The prior art and description of these applications including the drawings and the resulting improvements are added herein for complete disclosure is shown in the original application. This further improvement is shown in newly submitted FIGS. 6 and 7 and is the best mode now known.
The oil mist lubrication systems and the problems associated with the prior art still exist. The retention of the oil in the housing utilizing the oil mist system is novel. Prior art searches show no oil mist control systems which separate the mist after injection into the bearing housing to prevent escape of the mist into the atmosphere.
The oil mist coalescing system of this invention operates on the identical principles of the original disclosure and application, however, this best mode insures optimum drive engagement of the rotating member, desired coalescing action by controlling the engagement between the coalescing member and the rotating member, and by the ability to vary as necessary or desirable the amount of coalescing surface exposed to rotation and therefore utilize to the maximum the coalescing action.
Oil mist lubrication has been widely used in the Hydrocarbon Processing and Primary Metal industries as a means of delivering a constant supply of fresh lubricant directly to the bearings of various types in order to enhance the reliability of the rotating equipment.
Oil mist systems continuously provide a fresh supply of oil film to the bearings, pressurize the bearing housing against outside contaminants and cool the bearings slightly. A mist generator in which petroleum or synthetic lubricant is made into a fine aerosol mist of droplets, measuring 3-5 microns in size, is mixed with carrier air. The mixture is delivered by means of pipes, conduits, and tubings and is delivered automatically under low pressure to the bearing housing. Previously, a volume of air is continuously exhausted into the workplace area and the air contains oil mist, creating a back pressure in the bearing housing equal to the exit losses incurred. The disadvantage of known oil mist lubrication system is the constant escape of air/oil mist. This is often termed "stray mist" which permeates the entire area around and on the exterior surface of the misted equipment.
This stray mist or oil accumulation in the air has been taken care of in an environmental sense by proper ventilation and use of good mistable lubricants to reduce the amount of stray mist to a low level. However, there is always a significant amount of stray oil mist that escapes and is deposited on the surfaces in the workplace despite the best ventilation systems.
Government agencies, namely the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has tolerated the mist in the environment because it has not been proven to be harmful when ingested into the human body through inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption. The most common way is inhalation and the National Institute of Occupation Safety and Health in the United States has established a threshold limit of oil mist in the air as 5 mg. per cubic meter. However, concentrations greater than 0.4 mg. per cubic meter result in a visible haze or cloud of mist, which accumulates on the equipment and surrounding structures, especially the floor, which renders this equipment slippery and unsafe in many ways. In any event, this oil must be cleaned-up and the oily residue disposed of in an environmentally safe manner which requires a great deal of time and money.
This constant loss of oil and the requirements of cleaning it up necessitated a method of providing the advantages of oil mist lubrication without the disadvantages, i.e., loss of oil through the stray mist emitted into the surrounding environment.
Applicant's invention will implement the retention and control of oil mist in a housing. This implementation would prevent any visible emission, such as fog, steam, mist, etc., or would be operable with a gas at a temperature below its critical temperature and/or for retention in the housing of the combination of a aerosol mist substance in air or other carriers. In many instances, such control is needed, such as to prevent steam from entering into a housing containing oil or a substance, such as oil in a second aerosol form.
Applicant's invention has been found to provide absolute control over oil mist or oil droplets escaping into the atmosphere along with the air carrier.